On May 24, 2017, the Government of Alberta tendered and passed first reading of Bill 17: Fair and Family-friendly Workplaces Act (the “Bill”). The Bill proposes a number of significant amendments to Alberta’s Employment Standards Code and Labour Relations Code. This blog post provides a summary of the key changes to Alberta’s Employment Standards Code … Continue Reading

Reversing a lower court decision, in Fernandes v. Peel Educational & Tutorial Services Limited (“Fernandes”), the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that a school had just cause to fire a teacher who had “committed acts of misconduct, including the creation of false marks and inaccurate grades and then lying to cover up the improprieties”. This … Continue Reading

McCarthy Tétrault’s Doing Business in Canada provides a user-friendly overview of central aspects of the Canadian political and legal systems that are most likely to affect new and established business in Canada. The newest edition reflects legislative changes including: Changes to the Competition Act and Investment Act Canada; and an updated Mergers and Acquisitions chapter including … Continue Reading

What should you do if an employee asks to rescind his or her resignation? If you really love that employee, you say “Great! Welcome back.” But if this isn’t your favourite employee, you may have an obligation to undo the resignation anyway. In order to decide whether or not to allow them to withdraw the … Continue Reading

Click here to view the post from our Ontario colleagues on the recent agreement in principle between 8 of the 10 provincial finance ministers and the federal finance minister to expand the Canada Pension Plan. The post includes steps that Alberta employers could take to anticipate the expected changes. … Continue Reading

A few months ago we commented on a case where a fixed term contract caused an employer significant liability because it did not allow for early termination prior to the end of the fixed term. The Ontario Court of Appeal recently released a decision, Howard v. Benson Group Inc. (“Howard”), which provides a further warning … Continue Reading

Given the popularity and prevalence of mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets in today’s world, it is no surprise that Bring Your Own Device (“BYOD”) programs have become an increasingly common arrangement for organizations. BYOD programs allow employees to use their own mobile devices for both personal and business purposes, blurring the traditional … Continue Reading

The Ontario Court of Appeal has further shattered the “24 month maximum” myth. In Keenan v. Canac Kitchens Ltd., the Court of Appeal upheld a Trial Judge’s finding that two long service workers were “dependent contractors” and therefore entitled to 26 months’ reasonable notice on termination. We do not think that this appeal decision is … Continue Reading

A recent Ontario Superior Court of Justice decision upheld a provision in a written bonus program that required an employee to be “actively employed on the date of the bonus payout”. This finding meant that the wrongfully dismissed employee did not receive the value of his bonus during his common law notice period because, as … Continue Reading

In the past few days, the issue of an employee’s off-duty conduct and its impact on the employee’s fit for continued employment has been a hot button topic in the news and on social media. Many have questioned whether employers can or should consider conduct by an employee that occurs in the course of the … Continue Reading

About This Blog

Alberta Employer Advisor offers our perspectives on the latest legal developments applicable to the workplace and of interest to our clients. It provides our insights on legislative and regulatory developments, as well as new case law, while providing practical tips for employers and their human resources professionals when managing the workforce.